David Byrne, The Knee Plays

David Byrne is best known for his work with Talking Heads, but he has also experimented in theatrical collaborations and New Orleans styles. This album, now remastered and released on a CD for the first time, first appeared on vinyl as Music For the Knee Plays back in 1985, after Byrne had been asked to provide the score for an avant-garde production by Robert Wilson. It has survived remarkably well. Inspired by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Byrne uses a small brass and percussion band to perform sturdy, lyrical or drifting mood pieces that are often matched against his own distinctively theatrical and surreal spoken vocals. The effect is intriguing: this is a strangely timeless set that echoes everything from early New Orleans jazz to brassy atmospheric passages or the quirky charm of a great Talking Heads song. The eight new "bonus tracks" are less interesting than those original recordings.